Beautiful Vistas

One last photo of the autumn colors in northern Minnesota, because I need the reminder. Today the sky is gray and we've had some sleet and snow. Ugh.

I've been thinking of beautiful vistas this week. I realized that part of the pain of being an artist (whether with paint, dance, or words) is that during the process of translating an artistic vision into a medium that can be shared, the result doesn't always match up with the image. I find it particularly frustrating when trying to communicate about "God stuff." God is so beyond description that my efforts will always fall short.

I recently completed the revision work on The Restorer (due out with NavPress in May, 2007). There are transcendent moments in the story that almost capture truth, but there are other places where all I can see are clumsy words. They are the best words I was able to offer, but I'll probably never feel completely satisfied in their power, richness, and skill. In fact, I know I won't, because I'm never content with any of my work.

Then I remembered why I feel called to work in the arts (music, theatre, dance, and now writing). God is so awesome and multifaceted that we need a WIDE variety of means to communicate with Him and about Him. One means isn't enough. Give me a pipe organ, but also compose a work on electric guitar. Write a sonnet, but also a thriller. Every kind of art, every genre, gives us one more facet of His beauty, and one more means to convey the truth of our falleness and His grace.

Yes, the efforts will fall short, but the attempt is glorious, because as we study the beautiful vista in order to interpret it, we are changed by it.

So I'll continue the painful struggle of wrestling words onto a page, revising, and rewriting, with hope that readers will be transported to at least a glimpse of the beautiful vista I've seen - the beauty of God's grace at work within the reality of our sometimes ugly lives.

Blessings!
Sharon Hinck
Author of "The Secret Life of Becky Miller" (Bethany House Publishing, 6/2006)